Self-aligning spinning tool



y 1964 c. D. CADMAN 3,132,615

SELF-ALIGNING SPINNING TOOL Filed Aug. 24. 1959 INVENTOR. COFQUS DONALD CADMAN ATTY,

United States Patent 3,132,615 SELF-ALIGNING SPINNING TGOL Corlis Donald (Iatlman, Evansville, Wis, assignor to TheParlier Pen Company, Janesville, Win, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Aug. 24, 1959, SenNo. 835,567 2 Claims. (Cl. 113-32) 7 This invention relates in general to a spinning apparatus for forming the lip of a. ball point writing unit, and in particular to such apparatus having means for aligning thespinning tool and the work on a common central axis.

Experience has shown that misalignment of the work (the ball point housing) and the spinning tool produces poorly performing writing units.

Prior attempts to align the work and the spinning tool have involved devices having either a loose connection between the tool and the means driving it, or a relative tilting or cooking of'the work and the tool, or a change in distance between the tool and the means driving it, all

of which have proved disadvantageous.

Applicant has overcome the disadvantages of the prior art devices by providing means for resiliently aligning the tool and the work, with the movement being entirely in a single plane, while maintaining a constant distance between the tool and the means driving it, and without any cooking or tilting movement.

Applicant has done this by providing a resilient annular member, such as, for example, a rubber O ring, disposed between the spinning tool and the frame or body carrying it, thereby enabling the spinning tool to shift resiliently in any direction in the plane of the annular member to align the tool with the work in a continuous smooth motion entirely in one plane without jarring, tilting, or movement along the axis.

The structure includes a tool head in contact with the work, and a rotatably driven main body, the tool head and the mainbody having configurations thereon together forming a closed annular conduit lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tool head and main body, and further includes a rubber 0 ring disposed in the conduit to thus provide a friction drive coupling between the main body (the driver member) and the tool head (the driven member), and to also provide uniplanar resilient transverse shifting movement when needed.

It is thus an object of the invention to provide, in a ball point spinning apparatus, resilient alignment of the work and the spinning tool by movement in any direction entirely in a single plane.

Another object is to provide such alignment without relative shifting along the axis of the tool and the work.

It is a further object to provide such alignment without any cooking, tilting or arcuate movement of the tool or the work.

Objects and advantages other than those above set forth will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a spinning tool embodying the invention, shown together with a work piece upon which the tool performs;

FIG. 2 is a top plan viewof the tool shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a component of the tool;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of said component; and

FIG. 5 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown means for spinning in the lip or tip T of a cartridge point casing C of a ball point writing unit, by spinning the tip T about the Writing ball of the unit,

The cartridge point casing C is held in any convenient work holder H which is movable relative to the spinning apparatus to thereby move the work into or out of engagement therewith.

The spinning apparatus includes a rotatably driven frame or main body 9, a spindle spool 8, a roller spindle or tool head 6 having threeroller tools 7 thereon, and a resilient annular member 10 disposed between the frame 9 and the spindle tool head 6 to permit transverse shifting of the spindle in the frame.

The frame 9 is rotatably driven by means of a shaft (not shown) connected thereto, as for example, by being threadedinto threaded bore 11 of frame 9.

Thespindle spool 8 is disposed in a bore or cavity 13 in the frame, abutting a shoulder 14 therein, and fixed t0 the frame by set screws 17.

The spindle ,6 has a stem 1-8 extending through the spindle spool 8. The lower end of the stem extends into a bore or cavity 12 in the frame and carries a retaining ring 22. thereon to maintain the spindle assembled to the spindle spool. The other (upper) end of the spindle stem 18 has a flange 19 thereon, the underside of which has a race or groove 20 in which ball bearings 21 are disposed for bearing against the spindle and the spindle spool. The spindle or tool head 6 has a terminal flange 31 which together with flange 19 forms an inwardly (downwardly) opening recess. 7

Frame 9 has, at its upper end, a bore or, cavity 15 larger than bore 13, thereby forming an upwardly facing shoulder 16 and an inwardly (upwardly) facing recess.

The ,0 ring 10 is disposed in the relatively closed conduit formed by the mutuallyfacing recesses.

The spindle or tool head 6 has three equilaterally arranged roller posts 23 thereon supporting the rollers 7, which are ball bearing units having outer sleeves 32, inner sleeves 33, balls 34, seal rings 35, and retaining rings 24. The rollers 7 are the forming tools which contact the tip T of the writing unit to spin the lip about the writing ball.

Disposed in a central bore in the spindle is a writing ball support post 29. The post 29 is disposed in a bushing 5t) and rests on a ball 28 and a pin 27, and is resiliently urged upwardly by a spring 26 disposed between a set screw 25 and the pin 27. The writing ball is thus resiliently urged into the socket in the tip T of the cartridge point casing C.

In the operation of the device, the holder H, holding the tip T with the writing ball temporarily held therein, is moved down into engagement with the rotating device (the device could instead be moved up and the holder H held stationary). During this relative axial movement of the spin tool and the work, if the work is not in perfect axial alignment with the spinning tool, the spindle 6 moves transversely to thereby axially align the work and the tool. The spindle movement is resiliently resisted by the rubber O ring 10 so that there is no jarring or jamming as is sometimes the case where there is merely a loose connection for alignment purposes. The O ring, being a continuous annular member, permits shifting in any direction in the plane of the O ring, and the shifting movement is smooth and continuous, with no jerking. The shifting movement is entirely within the plane of the 0 ring, i.e. the movement is perfectly perpendicular to the axis ofthe spindle and the work, and there is no cocking or tilting. The shifting movement occurs without changing the distance of the tool from the work, as there is no bending or twisting of any member; there simply is the uniplanar movement in the direction of the plane of the O ring, as the O ring deforms or displaces upwardly and downwardly to permit the horizontal shifting movement.

It has been found that improved resiliency or deformation, and more effective shifting movement, may be obtained by providing radial slots a in the outer periphery of the O ring, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Before engagement with the writing ball, the ball supporting post 29, having a concavity therein for the writing ball, projects upwardly beyond its ultimate position during the spinning operation. As the work moves into the tool, the post 29 contacts the ball, and the tool head then starts to move into alignment with the work if there is any misalignment thereof.

As soon as the writing ball contacts the post 29, a pressure begins to build up between the writing ball and the post because of the resilient biasing of spring 26. This in turn causes friction to develop between the post and the writing ball, and causes the post to stop spinning and to become stationary with the ball. The ball, the tip T, and the post 29 remain stationary, and the tool head 6 and main body 9 spin thereabout, causing rollers 7 to contact and spin in the lip or tip T.

The tool head 6 rotates in unison with the main body 9. The O-ring 10, lying against the wall of bore of main body 9, and against the peripheral Wall of flange 19 of tool head 6, provides a friction drive between main body 9 and tool head 6, so that the tool head 6 spins with the main body 9.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for spinning over the end of a tube, the combination of a holder for supporting said tube in a predetermined position, a frame mounted for relative rotation with said holder about an axis parallel to and in substantial alignment with the principal longitudinal axis of a tube mounted in said holder, a rotatable tool head disposed between said frame and said holder, a spinning tool mounted on one end of said tool head for operative engagement with said tube, a flat surface on said frame lying in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation thereof, a thrust bearing inter-connected between said flat surface and said tool head, means mounted on the other end of said tool head coacting with the thrust bearing for maintaining the rotary axis of said tool head parallel to the principal longitudinal axis of said tube,

and an annular resilient member interconnected between the periphery of said tool head and said frame to transmit torque from said frame to said tool piece and to permit movement of said tool piece in the plane of said fiat surface,

2. Apparatus for spinning the lip of a tubular point over the writing ball of a ball point pen, comprising a holder for holding said point with a tubular end portion of said point exposed, a tool head mounted in proximity to said holder for carrying thereon a spinning tool having a plurality of surfaces contacting the exposed end portion of said point only on the outer surface thereof, means for rotating said tool head in a fixed plane relative to the longitudinal axis of a point held in said holder, said means including a member rotatably driven about an axis perpendicular to said fixed plane, said driven member having a bore that opens toward said holder, said tool head being at least partly disposed in said bore, and an annular shoulder within said bore that faces toward said holder and that lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said driven member, bearing means mounted between said tool head and said shoulder for supporting said tool head for movement in a fixed plane, resilient means symmetrically mounted within said bore for coupling said tool head to said driven member while permitting lateral movement of said tool head relative to said holder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 82,049 Weston Sept. 8, 1868 1,398,679 Clark Nov, 29, 1921 1,760,492 Hall May 27, 1930 1,823,032 De Vlieg Sept. 15, 1931 1,948,473 Marshall Feb. 20, 1934 2,498,148 Berritta Feb. 21, 1950 2,537,847 Neher Jan. 9, 1951 2,548,839 Coombes Apr. 10, 1951 2,666,307 Higert Jan. 19, 1954 2,780,468 Dunbar Feb. 5, 1957 2,970,558 Albertini Feb. 7, 1961 2,976,610 Schuck Mar. 28, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,032,475 France Mar. 25, 1953 

1. IN AN APPARATUS FOR SPINNING OVER THE END OF A TUBE, THE COMBINATION OF A HOLDER FOR SUPPORTING SAID TUBE IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION, A FRAME MOUNTED FOR RELATIVE ROTATION WITH SAID HOLDER ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLEL TO AND IN SUBSTANTIAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE PRINCIPAL LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF A TUBE MOUNTED IN SAID HOLDER, A ROTATABLE TOOL HEAD DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID FRAME AND SAID HOLDER, A SPINNING TOOL MOUNTED ON ONE END OF SAID TOOL HEAD FOR OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TUBE, A FLAT SURFACE ON SAID FRAME LYING IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE AXIS OF ROTATION THEREOF, A THRUST BEARING INTER-CONNECTED BETWEEN SAID FLAT SURFACE AND SAID TOOL HEAD, MEANS MOUNTED ON THE OTHER END OF SAID TOOL HEAD COACTING WITH THE THRUST BEARING FOR MAINTAINING THE ROTARY AXIS OF SAID TOOL HEAD PARALLEL TO THE PRINCIPAL LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF SAID TUBE, AND AN ANULAR RESILIENT MEMBER INTERCONNECTED BETWEEN THE PERIPHERY OF SAID TOOL HEAD AND SAID FRAME TO TRANSMIT TORQUE FROM SAID FRAME TO SAID TOOL PIECE AND TO PERMIT MOVEMENT OF SAID TOOL PIECE IN THE PLANE OF SAID FLAT SURFACE. 